lLLIS 



Food Adulteration: Its Nature 

and Extent, and How 

to Deal with It. 



WILLIS G. TUCKER, M.D., 

Director Bureau of Chemistry. New York State Depart- 
ment of Health. 



c# 



REPRINTED FROM 

MEDICAL REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 
October, 1903. 



[Reprinted from Medical Review of Re- 
views, October 25, 1903.] 



Food Adulteration : Its Nature 

and Extent, and How 

to Deal with It.* 

BY WILLIS G. TUCKER. M.D.. 

Director Bureau of Chemistry, New York State 
Department of Health. 

As this paper will be comparatively 
brief it may be said at the outset th^t no 
extended discussion of food adulteration 
will be attempted. Volumes have been 
written upon the subject and journals 
devoted to chemistry, medicine and hy- 
giene not only, but even the popular pe- 
riodicals and daily papers, give much 
space to it. It is a subject upon which 
m.uch popular misapprehension exists, 
but its importance is certainly such as to 
merit the recognition which it is re- 
ceiving. To deal with the matter prop- 
erly by legislation involves many and 
grave difficulties, and while admitting at 
the outset that I have no solution of 
the problem to offer I shall endeavor to 
indicate a few principles upon which it 

•Read at the third annual Conference of Sanitary 
Officers, held in Albany, October 8 and 9, 1903. 



seems to me that restrictive measures 
should be based. And since our conclu- 
sions ought to be founded upon sound 
premises it will be necessary to define 
.adulteration, and distinguish those foods 
which are frequently adulterated from 
those which are not. 

As regards foods, adulteration is often 
supposed essentially to consist in the 
wilful addition of some harmful, or at 
least distinctly objectionable, constitu- 
ent. But an article may be adulterated 
if it be not properly purified or prepared, 
even if no addition has been made to it, 
and the intentional addition of foreign 
matter does not necessarily constitute an 
adulteration. And it need scarcely be 
said that the admixture of matter en- 
tirely harmless may be an adulteration. 
I am not concerned with verbal quibbles, 
nor attempting to frame a precise defi- 
Tiition, but wish to make it plain that 
an article may be technically adulterated 
and yet entirely innocuous. Adulterated 
food is synonymous with poisoned food 
in many minds, and more rational ideas 
would prevail if this misapprehension 
were corrected. The phrase "pure 
iood," so popular nowadays, would 
seem to owe much of its attractiveness to 
the belief that most foods are purposely 
adulterated or contaminated, and that 
absolute purity is desirable and prac- 

2 

P. 
Author. 

15llr>04 



ticable in all cases. As a matter of fact, 
however, many of our most important 
staple foods are ordinarily free from 
wilful sophistication, and absolute purity 
is generally impossible of attainment in 
practice. 

Without attempting to frame any 
comprehensive and precise definition it 
may be said in a general way that adul- 
teration may consist in the removal of 
a valuable constituent, as cream from 
milk or fat from chocolate, or the fail- 
ure to remove some useless or objec- 
tionable constituent, as husks or shells 
from spices, or fusel oil in the rectifying 
of liquors. It may consist in the ad- 
dition of some cheaper or less valuable 
constituent as a mere filler or make- 
weight, or the addition of some actually 
harmful substance either as a substitute 
for some ingredient which has been ex- 
tracted, or as a flavor, color or preserva- 
tive, and in general in the abstraction of 
any essential constituent or the addition 
of any foreign or useless substance. 
Some adulteration is reprehensible, 
therefore, because it results in an injury 
to health, and other practices are to be 
condemned because they are commerci- 
ally fraudulent since they lower the 
real value or enhance the price of the 
article sold. It is essential to make dis- 
tinctions here if this matter is to be in- 



telligently discussed, and also to remem- 
ber the fact, already stated, that real and 
absolute purity in any chemical sense is 
seldom obtainable, or even desirable, in 
the case of foods, notwithstanding much 
nonsense which we hear to the contrary. 
Many illustrations of the difficulties 
which attend the popular discussion of 
these matters, and even the framing of 
precise definitions and the establishing 
of standards of purity, might be given 
but one will suffice. Maple sugar owes 
its essential sweetness cheifly to sucrose 
and if properly purified or refined would 
be indistinguishable from pure cane 
sugar, but its characteristic flavor and 
commercial value depend upon the pres- 
ence of substances derived from the sap 
which constitute impurities in sugar as 
otherwise judged. But beet sugar un- 
less its attendant impurities are removed 
would not be palatable or even edible. 
We demand therefore in the one case 
that the article should be impure, and in 
the other that the impurities should be 
removed. It is essential in all discussion 
of these matters that such facts be kept 
in mind if we would avoid hasty gen- 
eralizations and misdirected emphasis. 

There are probably few articles used 
as food which have not been at some 
time, or are not now at times, adulterated 
or sophisticated in some manner, but we 



shall have little difficulty in distinguish- 
ing those common foods which are fre- 
quently adulterated in an objectionable 
manner from those not ordinarily so 
treated. Among foods liable to adul- 
teration may be named under animal 
products, manufactured or prepared 
meats, including fish of all kinds, com- 
minuted or whole, potted or canned, 
flavored, spiced or otherwise treated and 
milk and dairy products generally. In 
the case of these articles valuable con- 
stituents may be removed ; cheaper ma- 
terial added, and objectionable coloring 
miatters and preservatives may be em- 
ployed. Under vegetable products, 
canned and otherwise preserved fruits 
and vegetables, syrups, candies, spices 
and flavoring extracts, salad-oil sold as 
olive oil, cocoa preparations and vinegar 
are frequently sophisticated or adul- 
terated. On the other hand fresh meats 
and fish foods, and ordinary salted, 
pickled and smoked meats and fish not 
compounded or manufactured; the 
staple cereal products, fresh vegetables 
and fruits, refined sugars, tea and 
unground coffee, are generally free 
from adulteration, and in the same 
class should be included the com- 
moner fermented and distilled liquors 
although a different view is very 
generally entertained. But since this 



general statement may seem too sweep- 
ing it may be well to be somewhat more 
specific although our time will not admit 
of detailed treatment of so large a mat- 
ter. 

In no country is fresh meat more 
largely eaten, even among the poorer 
classes, than in this, and it is so general- 
ly of good quality that I need not reier 
to the exceptions. And the same may 
be said of fish, shell-fish and the like. 
Where these are procurable at all they 
are ordinarily of good or fairly good 
quality. And so also of the ordinary 
salted, pickled and smoked animal foods, 
for while preservatives like boric acid, 
"liquid smoke" and similar substances, 
are sometimes used in the preparation of 
these articles, by far the larger part of 
the salt pork, hams, mackerel, cod-fish 
and other like staples found in our stores 
are of good and wholesome quality. But 
in the case of potted and canned animal 
foods, and such manufactured meats as 
sausage and the like the case is different. 
Substitutions of various kinds occur 
here which are commercially fraudulent, 
and colors, and preservatives are em- 
ployed which may be by no means unob- 
jectionable.* Many of these foods how- 

*The Inland Revenue Department of Canada, 

Bulletin 85, under date of June 10, 1903, reports 

Upon the examination of 99 samples of canned meats. 

All but five were in good condition and all were 



ever, are high-priced and used chiefly as 
reHshes and the total amount of all such 
foods consumed, while doubtless large, 
forms but a small proportion of our en- 
tire consumption. Coming now to dairy 
products we note that milk is largely 
watered, often suffers a loss of fat, and 
that preservatives are frequently added. 
Butter and cheese are variously manipu- 
lated and sophisticated, but many of 
these evils have been checked by federal 
and State legislation and an enlightened 
public sentiment which has done much 
to render the enforcement of restrictive 
laws possible, and as a result good and 
wholesome articles of this class are gen- 
erally procurable if the purchaser is will- 
ing to pay a fair price for them. Of 
canned and otherwise preserved vege- 
tables and fruits enormous quantities 
are consumed, and while a great deal of 
rubbishy stuff is put up, and preserva- 
tives often used as well as artificial col- 
oring agents, the larger part of these ar- 
ticles are unobjectionable from a sani- 
tary standpoint and the canner's art has 
been of inestimable service to the people. 
On the whole I think that in this trade 

tested for preservatives, and boric acid, probably 
added in part as borax, detected in 21, but it is 
stated that in no case did the amount exceed the 
limit fixed by the British Parliamentary Commis- 
sion, viz., 0.5 per cent., and in most cases it was 
markedly below this amount. Many of the samples 
examined were put up by American packers. 



there is a disposition to respect the laws 
which have been enacted and that the 
quaHty of these articles is improving 
rather than the reverse. The dangers 
arising from metallic impregnation have 
been very greatly exaggerated.* 

As regards cereal products it may be 
said that these are so cheap as to be sel- 
dom adulterated in this country. Some 
years ago wheat flour was quite ex- 
tensively adulterated with a finely 
ground preparation of Indian corn 
known as "flourine" but the passage of 
a revenue act taxing and requiring the 
branding of mixtures of this nature 
practically put an end to the practice. 
In foreign countries the adulteration of 
fine flours and meals in various ways is 
by no means unknown, but in this 
country at the present time such 
sophistication is seldom met with. The 
same may be said of bread, crackers, 
breakfast foods and like articles. The 

*The Inland Revenue Department of Canada, 
Bulletin 87, under date of July 14, 1903, reports 
upon the examination of 100 samples of canned 
vegetables, including peas, corn, tomatoes, beans, 
beets and asparagus. All but two were in good con- 
dition, and in none was any preservative found. 
Traces of copper were discovered in two of the 
27 samples of peas examined, but it is stated that 
there is no evidence to show that these traces 
mean any intentional addition of copper which is 
believed to be normally present in some peas. Cop- 
per is commonly added to imported French peas 
for the purpese of fixing the natural color, but it 
is seldom employed by packers in this country. 



use of alum, mineral make-weights and 
other adulterants is so rare as to require 
no notice. Some special foods, like ar- 
rowroot, gluten flours, so-called, and 
gluten breads, may not be as claimed, 
but our cereal foods are generally of 
good uality and satisfactory purity. 
Fresh vegetables and fruit form an im- 
portant part of our food supply and are 
often sold in our markets in an unripe, 
stale or even rotten state. Tons of such 
articles are confiscated and destroyed in 
our cities every summer, but this matter 
lies outside the scope of our inquiry, nor 
are such foods adulterated in any ordi- 
nary sense. 

Saccharine substances form an im- 
portant class of foods and the higher 
grades of sugar are furnished in a state 
of remarkable purity. Whether ex- 
tracted from sugar cane, beets or sor- 
ghum, if properly refined, the product 
is the same, and the dangers said to 
lurk in the presence of ultramarine and 
tin-salts are so remote as to be scarcely 
worth considering. Moist and brown 
sugars, molasses, syrups and maple sug- 
ar and syrup have been more or less 
largely commingled with grape sugar and 
glucose syrup, but such adulteration, 
except in the case of maple products, 
is much less common than formerly. 
The cheaper grades of confectionery are 



largely made up of grape sugar, starch, 
mucilaginous substances and gelatin, in 
themselves unobjectionable, but they 
sometimes contain paraffin, clay, sul- 
phate of lime, and objectionable flavors 
and colors. Fusel oil has been found 
in "rock and rye drops," but fortunately 
the use of such deleterious substances 
is not common. Jams, jellies and mar- 
malades are often fictitious mixtures 
compounded, with glucose, gelatin, and 
artificial flavors, variously colored and 
frequently containing preservatives, but 
poor as they are, and misleading as may 
"be their labels, they are not always 
necessarily unwholesome and the pur- 
chaser can generally tell with fair cer- 
tainty what he is getting. 

Tea and coffee may be briefly dis- 
missed. The federal inspection laws 
keep out most of the rubbishy tea that 
used to be imported, and the search for 
foreign leaves, and exhausted leaves 
made over, is like looking for the pro- 
verbial needle in the haystack. The 
evils resulting from facing and coloring 
have been much harped upon and con- 
stitute part of the stock in trade of many 
over-zealous though misinformed en- 
thusiasts, but the evils alleged have been 
greatly exaggerated. Good tea, entirely 
genuine, can always be obtained nowa- 
days at moderate prices, and the vSame 



lO 



may be said of coffee if purchased 
whole. Artificial coffee beans have 
been made and sold but at present prices 
are seldom seen and if met with may be 
easily detected. Even ground coffee is 
now commonly ground at time of sale 
and is therefore ordinarily unadul- 
terated, and the various brands of cereal 
coffees, sold in packages, do not pre- 
tend to be coffee at all and no one need 
be deceived in buying them. Chicory 
is often added to ground coffee but gen- 
erally in response to a demand rather 
than as an adulterant, and it cannot 
be considered as harmful. There are all 
grades of coffee from the best to the 
poorest but there is little adulteration 
which would deceive any one of ordi- 
nary intelligence desirous of obtaining 
real coffee. In the case of spices, how- 
ever, the conditions are very different 
and while genuine spices are not difficult 
to obtain a large part of those sold, es- 
pecially in the ground state, are of in- 
ferior quality or adulterated with for- 
eign matter. The manufacture of these 
adulterants is in itself a large industry 
and while the substances employed for 
this purpose are in themselves harmless 
the fraud is not one which should be 
condoned. But this matter is so general- 
ly understood that we need give no more 
time to it. 



II 



Flavoring extracts also are very large- 
ly adulterated and frequently entirely 
fictitious. Very little of the vanilla ex- 
tract now sold is made from the real 
bean, synthetic vanillin, and generally 
coumarin also, being employed in its 
manufacture. These substances are in- 
nocent enough but an extract so pre- 
pared lacks the fine flavor which the true 
vanilla bean imparts. Lemon extract 
should be made from real oil of lemon, 
lemon peel and deodorized alcohol but 
much of the stuff which masquerades 
under its name contains so little oil that 
it is scarcely recognizable and it is fre- 
quently entirely fictitious. It has also 
been shown that wood-alcohol, which is 
distinctly toxic, is sometimes used in its 
preparation. Aside from these articles 
other flavoring extracts used in the 
household, and by bakers, confectioners 
and makers of ice-cream, soda-water, 
syrups and soft drinks, are largely made 
from artificially prepared fruit essences, 
skilfully compounded, but we may de- 
rive comfort from the thought that 
most of these substitutes are compara- 
tively innocuous in the quantities in 
which they are used. 

Olive oil, as is well known, is very li- 
able to adulteration and much that is sold 
consists entirely of cotton-seed, arachis, 
or other seed oils. Lard oil is sometimes 



used as an adulterant but none of these 
are objectionable from a sanitary stand- 
point. Clearly, however, they should 
be sold upon their merits and not under 
false colors. Cocoa preparations often 
have an undue proportion of fat re- 
moved and frequently contain excessive 
quantities of sugar, starch or other 
make-weights, but until such time as 
definite standards have been set for these 
articles it is not easy to draw the line 
between those which should be called 
adulterated and those entitled to be 
ranked as pure. We have found that 
the best known brands are generally of 
satisfactory quality. Vinegar is an ar- 
ticle very likely to be adulterated by the 
addition of water, and under the name 
of cider vinegar spirit vinegar, common- 
ly known in the trade as white vinegar, 
is often sold, but in this State our vine- 
gar law has been in operation for a good 
many years and has operated pretty sat- 
isfactorily. The adulteration of vine- 
gar with mineral acids is practically un- 
known, and so far as wholesomeness is 
concerned it is immaterial whether the 
vinegar we use be made from cider, malt 
oi whiskey. Indeed the diluted acetic 
acid of the United States Pharmaco- 
poeia, containing six per cent, of abso- 
lute acid, would perhaps be preferable to 
anything else, and the late Dr. E. R. 



13 



Squibb once told me that he employed 
it upon his table in preference to vine- 
gar. 

We cannot take time to dwell much 
longer upon specific adulterations but 
before leaving the matter I want to say 
something concerning fermented and 
distilled liquors. It is the common no- 
tion that these are very largely adul- 
terated, and that cheap beer and low- 
priced whiskey are particularly noxious, 
but such is not in reality the case. There 
is plenty of blending, watering, flavoring 
and false labelling, more especially in 
the case of wines and imported liquors 
and cordials, but upon these I shall not 
dwell. Domestic malt-liquors and whis- 
key are the real staples here and con- 
cerning these a few words may not be 
out of place. In the brewing of malt 
liquors glucose, and other substitutes 
for malted barley such as unmalted cere- 
als, are often employed, but these sub- 
stances are in themselves harmless and 
the notion that foreign and poisonous 
bitters are employed in place of hops 
rests upon very slight foundation in 
fact.* Preservatives are very frequent- 
ly used in bottled beers, but most 
diaught beers are free from harmful 



*In 1886 Dr. Engelhardt of Syracuse examined 
477 samples of beer for the State Board of Health, 
and no hop substitute was detected in any sample. 



14 



adulterants as sold, and in the absence 
of definite standards can seldom be 
termed adulterated at all. In 1897 Dr. 
E. J. Lederle, now Commissioner of 
Health in the City of New York, at that 
time Chemist to the Department of 
Health, examined five samples of beer 
purchased on or near the Bowery in 
various places where sold for three 
cents a glass. Dr. Lederle has kindly 
furnished me with an abstract of his re- 
port which has never been published, 
and this report states that each sample 
was in good condition when purchased, 
containing the usual amount of carbonic 
acid gas and no excess of yeast, and that 
none of them contained any other bitter 
than hops nor were any injurious in- 
gredients found present, and in his opin- 
ion no cause for complaint existed. 
These results agree with those reported 
by most other reputable analysts during 
recent years. Now concerning domestic 
whiskey, which is probably consumed 
in this country more largely than all 
other distilled Hquors combined, I be- 
lieve the facts to be as follows. 
Genuine whiskey may ordinarily be 
easily obtained at fair prices. Its chief 
adulterant is water. Caramel is always 
added to color it and diflferent whiskies 
are often blended, or mixed with wine, 
as sherry, to improve the flavor, and 



15 



syrup or rock candy, glycerine and the 
like are not infrequently added. Whis- 
kies so treated may not comply with the 
requirements of; the Pharmacopoeia as 
to total solids and nature of same, per- 
centage of alcohol, etc., but none of 
these additions are in any respect harm- 
ful. But much cheap whiskey is either 
insufificiently aged, and as a result may 
contain an undue amount of fusel oil, or 
it is purely artificial. Whiskey is now 
made on quite a large scale from cologne 
spirits, which is diluted with water to 
proof strength or much below it, colored 
with caramel, flavored by the addition 
of some real whiskey, or with oils and 
essences sold for the purpose, and often 
sweetened or softened by the addition of 
syrup or glycerin. Such articles are 
spurious but not necessarily unwhole- 
some and they may be, and often are, 
much less objectionable than new or im- 
properly matured liquor. The essential 
stimulating and intoxicating constituent 
in all liquors is alcohol, and this sub- 
stance, no matter how prepared, if pure, 
is the same. Common alcohol of 94 per 
cent, by volume, or 188 proof, may con- 
tain sufficient fusel oil or other impuri- 
ties to affect its odor and taste, and is 
not found to give satisfactory results in 
the compounding of liquors. Cologne 
spirits, which is a purer distillate and 



16 



much more suitable for the purpose, is 
therefore universally employed. If this 
be properly diluted it is in no respect 
more deleterious than whiskey is. In 
the course of the investigation made by 
Dr. Lederle already referred to he found 
that manufactured whiskey made from 
cologne spirits, diluted, colored by cara- 
mel, flavored by so-called whiskey-oil or 
essence, and sometimes containing prune 
juice, sugar or glycerin, was very large- 
ly sold in places where cheap whiskey is 
dispensed. He collected 20 samples of 
whiskey from places where it is sold at 
three cents per drink, of one ounce, and 
as a result of his examination, which 
was thorough, it appeared that almost 
all were artificial. In his conclusions he 
says : "In no case was the amount of 
fusel oil excessive. No injurious ingre- 
dients were found in any of the samples. 
An artificial whiskey made from pure 
cologne spirits, about proof, colored by 
caramel and flavored by ?. small amount 
of a non-injurious essence is probably 
less injurious to the system than a genu- 
ine new whiskey of the same alcoholic 
strength, containing 0.25 per cent, by 
volume or over of fusel oil." And he 
concludes by saying : "There is no cause 
for complaint." The samples examined 
varied in alcoholic strength from 30 to 
50 per cent, by volume, averaging 41.5 



17 



per cent., while the pharmacopoeia re- 
quires from 50 to 58 per cent., so that 
they were greatly deficient in real 
strength. The fusel oil determinations 
were very interesting. Nine samples 
contained only a trace (that is less than 
0.0 1 per cent.) ; six contained o.io per 
cent, or less, and five contained between 
0.10 and 0.19 per cent, while a genuine 
new whiskey examined yielded 0.35 per 
cent. Although no definite standard of 
the amount which should be allowed 
has been generally agreed upon he is of 
opinion that 0.20 or 0.25 per cent, is the 
maximum which should be present in 
good liquors, and none of the cheap 
manufactured whiskies which he ex- 
amined contained as much as this. In 
refutation of the claim that cheap whis- 
key must necessarily be made from dele- 
terious ingredients he makes a simple 
calculation to show that such whiskey as 
he collected, and which sold by the pint 
at an average price of 24 cents, need cost 
but about a dollar a gallon, and that 
when sold at three cents a drink of one 
ounce the gross profit on each gallon 
so sold would be $2.84, or nearly 
300 per cent. All samples were tested 
for poisonous metals but none were dis- 
covered, nor were any traces of capsi- 
cum, mineral acids or other injurious 
substances, commonly believed to be 



18 



used in such liquors, detected. And I 
may add that I have examined from 
time to time during recent years many 
samples of whiskey for the Department 
of Health, and that while samples oc- 
casionally fall considerably below the 
pharmacopoeial requirement as to alco- 
holic strength, no deleterious constitu- 
ents have been discovered. I think 
therefore that we are not justified in say^ 
ing that cheap whiskey is necessarily 
harmfully adulterated since as a mat- 
ter of fact its chief adulterant is water.* 
Before leaving this subject I may add 
that the Bottling in Bond act, passed by 
Congress in March, 1897, enables pur- 
chasers who desire to procure genuine 
whiskey, matured for four years or more 
in bonded warehouses, to obtain it under 
what amounts in reality to a Govern- 
ment guarantee, for the stamp issued by 

•Many of the older English works on food adul- 
teration refer to fusel oil, methyl alcohol, creosote, 
mineral acids, capsicum and the like, .a& if they were 
frequently used in adulterating spirits, but as a 
matter of fact, they are seldom so employed. 
Thorpe (Diet, of Applied Chem., I, 38) says: "Al- 
though it has been stated that spirits, especially gin, 
were formerly adulterated with capsicum and even 
sulphuric acid, in order to increase their fiery char- 
acter, it is satisfactory to find that in the working 
of the Food and Drugs Act no evidence has been 
afforded of such practices during late years. The 
report of the Local Government Board, 1885, after 
referring to the fact that one-fourth the samples 
submitted for analysis were diluted below the standard, 
adds 'it is satisfactory, however, to find that water 
is the only adulterant employed.' " 



19 



the Internal Revenue Department and 
affixed over the cork, gives date of pro- 
duction, name of distiller and location 
of distillery, proof strength, measure of 
contents and date of bottling. Under 
the admirable provisions of this act 
those who wish to protect themselves 
against commercial fraud, and deceptive 
advertisements and labels, may do so 
without much trouble. 

Of the use of coloring agents and pre- 
servatives I do not purpose speaking at 
this time. These substances as used are 
frequently adulterants and in a report 
upon food colors made to the Legislature 
ir 1900, and published in the Twenty- 
first Annual Report of the State Board 
of Health, I discussed the subject at 
some length and gave the results of 
the examination of a number of the 
m.ore important articles which are sold 
for this purpose. And at our last Sani- 
tary Conference I gave some account of 
food preservatives in a paper upon the 
subject which I read on the first day of 
the meeting. I shall therefore make no 
further particular reference to these 
forms of adulteration at this time. 

We come now to ask in conclusion, 
and briefly, how shall this matter of food 
adulteration be dealt with? Many peo- 
ple have great faith in legislation. They 
believe that all abuses mav be corrected 



20 



and people made moral by the passing of 
laws. Perhaps I have less confidence in 
le,s:islation as a remedy for some of the 
evils that affect our body politic than 
many of my friends have and this much 
at any rate seems to me certain, that it 
takes wise men to frame salutary laws, 
and efficient and judicious officers to en- 
force them. It may be that we have had 
too much law-making in some directions 
and it is very certain that the widely 
differing statutes relating to our food 
supply in the different States have 
' worked much mischief, been the cause 
of much confusion, and seriously em- 
barassed some useful industries. I think 
all who have studied the matter will be 
inclined to admit that uniformity in our 
food Jaws is much to be desired, but how 
this may be secured, and how our statute 
books may be freed from many senseless 
provisions which now encumber them 
are questions not easy to answer. Fed- 
eral aid has been invoked but the gen- 
eral government cannot deal with the 
problem directly under our constitution 
since each State has jurisdiction in all 
such matters in its own territory, and I 
cannot view with favor such wrestings 
of our interstate commerce laws and 
revenue laws as have made them instru- 
ments for attaining ends which they 
were never designed to accomplish. 



21 



laudable though these may be. Well 
inspired as have been the efforts which 
have been made in these directions, and 
notwithstanding the fact that some of 
the results obtained have been both de- 
sirable and salutary, I still think that 
the principle is wrong because consti- 
tutional rights guaranteed to the States 
are interfered with. To many it is a 
mere matter of expediency, and in the 
view of such the end justifies the means, 
but I cannot think so. In my opinion 
the States m.ust deal with these prob- 
lems just as they frame their own mar- 
riage and divorce laws, banking laws 
and those governing the sale of liquor 
and the like, and if confusion and com- 
plications result the trouble Hes in our 
political system and ought not to be 
remedied by any subterfuge, however 
plausible or ingenious the method, or de- 
sirable the end sought to be obtained. 

Now^ it is an encouraging fact that we 
find of late years a disposition to enact 
measures in one State which have op- 
erated satisfactorily in others, and I be- 
lieve that as this matter of food adultera- 
tion is more fully discussed, and placed 
upon a better scientific basis, there will 
be evolved more satisfactory laws than 
any now upon our statute books, and 
that these, if found to operate benefici- 
ally, will in time be adopted in most of 



22 



the States. The work of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, of 
the Association of Official Agricultural 
Chemists, of the National Association of 
State Dairy and Food Departments, and 
of other congresses and conferences 
such as that we are now holding, has 
been productive of much good, and 
through such efforts we may hope that 
rational legislative measures will even- 
tually be evolved. 

Restrictive legislation may be based 
on one or the other of two general prin- 
ciples. The use of harmful, deleterious 
or poisonous articles may be prohibited 
in general terms, in which case it rests 
with the State to prove the objectionable 
quality of the article complained of, 
wdiich is often difficult and may be im- 
possible ; or the sale or employment of 
various and specific substances may be 
forbidden, but the difficulties involved in 
making a list which shall be correct and 
complete are so great that any man or 
body of men may well shrink from at- 
tempting it. The subject is intricate 
and perplexing and, as stated at the out- 
set, I have no general solution to offer, 
and can only state a few points which 
it seems to me should be borne in mind 
in discussing it. 

First. — U n necessary legislation 
should be discouraged. Every year we 



23 



have bills introduced in this State for- 
bidding the use of coloring agents, pre- 
servatives and poisons, in dairy products 
and other foods, and we have pure beer 
bills, and canned goods bills, and others 
of like nature which are either duplica- 
tions of existing laws, or otherwise un- 
necessary, or introduced in the interest 
of some individual or industry. This 
is a growing evil and needs correction. 
And if, through excess of zeal and in a 
vain endeavor to secure ideal purity in 
our foods, we interfere with justifiable 
manufacturing processes, we are ham- 
pering trade and may increase the cost, 
or injure the quality, of commodities. 
In the present state of our knowledge 
we should be very cautious in either 
enacting or endeavoring to enforce 
laws which in any wholesale way forbid 
the use of food preservatives. I use this 
only as an illustration for the same cau- 
tion should be observed in many other 
directions, and we ought not to be influ- 
enced by the prejudices and ill-formed 
opinions of over-zealous enthusiasts. 
Some of these will make a great pother 
about the recent exclusion of a small 
consignment of French white wine and 
a few other articles at the port of New 
York under the law passed by Congress 
last March as a rider on the Agricultural 
Appropriation Bill. This law prohibits 



2y 



the importation into this country of any 
article of food or drink made in violation 
of the laws of the country in which it 
originates, and its general intent is no 
doubt good, though I should not be will- 
ing to concede that we are bound to ap- 
prove all the adulteration laws which 
have been passed in other countries. 
On the contrary I maintain that we must 
set our own standards, and if the sale of 
an article is forbidden in France or 
Germany which we deem to be unob- 
jectionable I can see no reason, other 
than some possible political one, why we 
should exclude it. Now without en- 
tering into any discussion of the ques- 
tion as to whether salicylic acid, which 
it is stated was contained in this ex- 
cluded wine, should or should not be 
added to any kind of wine, it is evident 
that the matter is not one of very great 
importance and ought not to be unduly 
magnified. Probably not one person in 
ten thousand in this country habitually 
uses imported white wine upon his 
table. The vast majority of our people 
therefore are not greatly interested in 
the matter and care much more about 
pure milk than they do about pure 
French wines. 

Second. — So far as possible we should 
endeavor in framing food laws to define 
articles precisely, and prescribe definite 



25 



standards of quality or purity to which 
they shall be required to conform. 
This will often be difficult, as for exam- 
ple in the case of cocoa preparations 
where many commercial grades are pre- 
pared from the same natural product, 
but it is often entirely practicable. In 
the case of articles like milk and vinegar, 
where definite standards have been 
adopted, it has been found in practice a 
comparatively easy matter to enforce the 
laws regulating their sale, and there has 
been little complaint of hardship or in- 
justice resulting from their enforcement. 
Principles applicable in the case of drugs 
may be fairly extended to foods, and in 
the precise definitions, and standards 
of purity and strength, of the United 
States Pharmacopoeia we have a model 
which, so far as possible, should be imi- 
tated in framing food laws. 

Third. — There are few articles likely 
to be employed in foods the use of which 
under all circumstances should be ab- 
solutely prohibited. Take the case of 
boric or benzoic acid and their salts, or 
even of salicylic acid, for example. I do 
not think that their use should be abso- 
lutely prohibited but am of the opinion 
that the articles to which they may be 
added should be listed, and the quantity 
permitted to be employed in such articles 
definitely stated, and that the law should 



26 



require the fact of such use to be stated 
upon the label. I favor such legislation 
because 1 do not think that in the present 
state of our knowledj^c wc arc jii>tiricd 
in saying that such substances are, of 
necessity, harmful in all cases and I am 
not very sani;uinc that such experi- 
ments as Dr. Wiley has been recently 
conductinjx with a view to determining 
the effect ui)on health of antiseptics 
used as food preservatives will yield 
very conclusive results. Experiments 
on the "poison squad" will doubtless 
add to our knowledge, but they cannot 
be expected to settle all questions now 
under discussion. 

Fourth. — Proper and honest labelling 
of food articles should be encouraged 
and, so far as practicable, required by 
law. The advantages of precise defi- 
nitions and the establishment of stand- 
ards have been referred to, and since 
there is no reason in demanding that all 
food shall be of first quality, and even 
skimmed milk has right to be sold on 
its merits, it is evident that different 
grades of quality may be established by 
law, and the public, which docs not ex- 
pect to buy first quality goods at the 
price of seconds, would soon come to 
understand this matter. I think it 
would be approved by manufacturers 
also, and that no reproach would attach 



27 



to articles plainly branded as of this or 
that grade, with reference to the law 
in the case, and openly sold on their 
merits. A properly applied method of 
classifying and branding food articles 
would dignify many products now com- 
monly regarded as spurious, and sold 
under false pretences, which are really 
entirely unobjectionable from a sanitary 
standpoint. If an article like extract 
of vanilla, for instance, made from 
vanillin was sold under legal provisions 
and properly labelled, many difficulties 
now confronting those who desire to 
execute our present laws impartially 
would be removed, all manufacturers 
would be placed upon the same footing, 
those who desire to obtain an article 
m.ade from vanilla ,beans might obtain 
it, and the rank and file of the public, 
who are satisfied to use an article nearly 
as good and fully as wholesome at a 
lower price, might get it without sug- 
gestion of any imposition. I believe that 
most large manufacturers are anxious to 
comply with all reasonable provisions 
of law, and I think that the way to en- 
courage them in so doing lies not in the 
direction of impracticable standards of 
purity, and the prohibition of all imita- 
tion and substitution, but in the estab- 
lishing of definite grades of quality for 
different articles, and requiring that this 



28 



grade shall be plainly stated. This view 
may seem impracticable to some who 
think that all manufacturers are rogues, 
and all trade a cheat, but such is not the 
case. There is much more commercial 
honesty abroad in the world to-day than 
there was half a century ago. Goods 
are more frequently sold as represented 
than they used to be, and such warrants 
as "all wool," "fast color," "full count" 
or "full measure," are more generally 
true to-day than ever before. And so it 
ought to be in the case of foods, and in 
many cases really is. And if we had 
fewer food laws, and if those retained 
were more rational, comprehensible, 
equitable, and easier of enforcement, 
there would be less deception and less 
ctuse of complaint on the part of the 
public. I live in the confident hope that 
our latter-day agitation of this important 
matter may lead to a better understand- 
ing of it, and that on this better under- 
standing more rational methods of deal- 
ing with the problems involved, some of 
which we have discussed, will be based. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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